From Sketch to Spectacle: Famous movie storyboards

When emerging designers ask us for advice about how to improve the strength of their concepts, we always begin with one simple answer: sketch it. As in, doodles. By hand. On paper. You’d be surprised by how much working outside the parameters of digital software will free your mind.

If you don’t believe us, ask some of Hollywood’s biggest directors, like Alfred Hitchcock, Francis Ford Coppola, Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg, George Lukas and Christopher Nolan. All of these heavy hitters, in particular Hitchcock and Scorsese, are known for their emphasis upon storyboards – basically comic book-like hand drawings that sketch out the movie, frame by frame. Scorsese has gone so far as to say that, beyond serving as a guide, “storyboards are the point where I begin.” He sometimes even draws them himself (though, as you’ll see below, his skill as a draftsman does not quite match his prowess as a director).

Here are the storyboards for seventeen famous films. Can you figure out what they are? You’ll find the answers at the bottom of the page.